Your favourite cookie dough recipe (I used this one!)
Outline-consistency royal icing
Flood-consistency royal icing
Sprinkles, edible glitters, etc!
Jolly Ranchers (or a similar brand of hard candies)
1. Roll your cookie dough and place your cutters! First, cut out the ear hooks cookie and transfer to your baking sheet.
2. Next, cut the shape of the glasses, but don't lift the cookie up just yet. Leave the cutter as is.
3. Press the "negative space" neck & beak cutter into the dough. You can either remove this area completely, or apply it as a stamp for piping guidelines.
4. If you choose to remove the negative space, gently wiggle the cutter and pull it straight up to remove the small section.
5. Follow the same procedure for the eye areas. You can also apply it as stamp if you wish to decorate the lenses with royal icing.
6. Don't forget the second eye!
7. I like to pull the excess dough away from the outside of the cutter; then carefully lift the entire cutter & cookie and transfer to my cookie sheet. Place on cookie sheet, and use your finger to gently pop the cookie out of the cutter.
8. Bake your cookies, but bake them for only about half the time required.
9. While your cookies are baking, place your hard candies in a plastic bag, and crush them by hitting them with a hammer, blunt end of a knife, or marble rolling pin.
10. Remove your cookies from the oven when they are about half baked. Allow them to cool for a minute and use a wide, flat spatula to gently lift and flip the glasses over.
11. If you break your cookie while flipping it over, don't panic. Line the pieces back up so they can continue to bake together. Drop the crushed hard candies in the eye holes. And place back into the oven for the remainder of the baking period.
12. The jolly ranchers will melt completely. When you remove the cookies from the oven, allow them to cool completely before removing from the pan. You want the hard candy to fully solidify.
13. When the "lenses" are cool and hard, flip the cookie back over.
14. And now it's time to decorate! Outline the entire area of the flamingo body - but don't flood over the lenses!
15. Who says flamingos have to be pink?? I decided to flood these ones with white - how cute would that be for a bachelorette party?!
16. Next, flood the beak with your preferred colours. Allow to dry completely.
17. Flood the ear hooks as well and allow to dry fully!
18. When your flood is dry, add the details! Piping, eyes, etc!
19. To secure the pieces together, pipe icing on upper half of the ear hooks, and place the glasses on top.
20. Crumple up a piece of aluminium foil to prop the flamingo heads up while the pieces dry securely together
